A Chance to Hope
by Hollowtiger
Summary: Jaune Arc from twenty years into the future, where the kingdoms have fallen, and the world is little more than masses of lands scarcely populated by whatever remains of Humanity & Faunus kind; finds himself waking up on his bed in the dorm room of team JNPR back at Beacon. Which shouldn't exist anymore.


Future Jaune pt1

Future Jaune wakes up in his bed back at Beacon, which is odd considering he went to sleep on a ratty couch in an abandoned house. Also Beacon was destroyed 20 years ago.

* * *

Jaune roused from his slumber, the softness of his bed urging him to stay where he was, in that moment he knew something was wrong. Jaune distinctly remembered falling asleep on a lumpy couch in an abandoned house within which he took shelter. His eyes shot open, met with the sight of a plain ceiling with a single light fixture in the center; a ceiling he knew but hadn't seen in nearly 20 years. He sat up stiffly, eyes darting from side-to-side taking in the details of the darkened room around him. The bookshelves, the wallpaper, the curtains, three beds to his right it was all the same; this was undoubtedly his dorm room back at Beacon. Which shouldn't exist anymore. His fists balled in the sheets underneath him, the sensation should have comforted him.

Who would even know what it looked like, let alone the exact placement of everything? Jaune reasoned, thinking the ability to touch things ruled out visual illusions, an ability to alter perceptions to this extent seemed unlikely, even more so due to the nature of what exactly was presented before him. He glanced at the other sleeping figures in the room wondering half-joking to himself that perhaps he fell into some kind of wormhole. He slowly stood, taking deliberate, and careful steps towards the bed closest to him. Where Lie Ren, his former teammate, and brother in all but blood slept as he always did, like a log, so still you could mistake him for a corpse. Ren had been gone for years, and yet here he was, younger than he last saw him, but here all the same. "Then that means . . ," Jaune hazard a look to the other side of the room, and his feet carried him to the furthest bed from him; He leaned over the sleeping girl in it, and gazed down on the face of a beautiful young woman with long crimson hair.

He couldn't believe it, "Pyrrha?" Jaune extended his hand to touch her, but stopped partially due to how creepy he suddenly felt, partially due to the fear of finding out this really was a dream. The girl in the next bed over turned over, throwing off the covers off her body revealing Nora Valkyrie in all her glory, snoring and drooling. Jaune felt tears burn at the corners of his eyes, this had to be a dream, it was too good to be true.

A quiet gasp drew his eyes back down to the girl he was still leaning over, whom appeared very confused and shocked, Jaune pulled back quickly sputtering out words to explain himself.

Obviously waking up to find a dirty, armed old man leaning over you, even the bravest of individuals would be at least a bit surprised. So Pyrrha sat up and screamed, and almost immediately a blur of pink and orange slammed him into a wall.

Jaune rolled out the way of Nora's next attack, but found the barrel of a gun pressed against his cheek. Ren staring him down with a look that promised pain, "Who are you?"

"Ren, Jaune is gone!" Pyrrha who had stood and grabbed her own weapon, was near hysterical not due to intruder, but because their leader had apparently vanished into thin air.

"What have you done with Jaune?" Ren pressed again, rage clear on his face.

"If you did anything to Jaune, I'm gonna make you wish you had never been born!" Nora returned with her warhammer, her usual bubbly disposition nowhere in sight.

"I know how this must look, but please listen to m-" Jaune held his hands up to show his surrender, and try to explain the situation when Team RWBY busted through the door falling in a heap.

The youngest and leader, Ruby climbed out of the pile, worried expression juxtaposed against her pajamas and sleeping mask. "What's wrong? Who screamed? Did something happen?" Questions streamed out of her mouth as her teammates worked to untangle themselves. Finally taking in the situation at hand, Ruby saw three of her friends in their pajamas holding a middle-aged man at gunpoint.

"What's going on here?" Yang asked following up on her sister, "who's the old guy?"

"We were just getting to that," Pyrrha replied moving closer to her, letting Ren and Nora keep an eye on him. "When I woke up this man was standing over me, I screamed and Nora tackled him. Then we got the situation under control."

"So he's some kinda perv?" Yang cracked her knuckle angrily taking a step towards Jaune.

"But how did he get in the first place, we're not on the first floor, and the doors require a pass code. He'd have had to break in first, which obviously wouldn't have been quiet, as you noticed when we made out entrance, and there isn't any sign of forced entry." Blake straightened out her yukata, pointing out a logical question.

"We think he did something to Jaune as well, he was gone when we woke up!" Pyrrha threw out quickly, indicating to the empty bed against the far wall.

"What!?" Ruby clearly distressed advanced on the man, shouting at him as she got closer, "Why?! Where is Jaune!?"

"Please just let me explai-," Jaune attempting to start again gesturing with his hands for everyone to calm down.

"Oh dear, this looks like a mess," the even tone of Ozpin's voice clearly not fit for the tense situation, inspecting the broken door-frame, then his eye falling onto Jaune.

"Yes, more people just what we need," Jaune let out a sigh, he would have face-palmed if not for the weapon digging into his cheek. "Just get CRDL and SSSN we can have a party."

"There had better be a good reason for breaking school property and causing a racket so early in the morning," Glynda moved into the room riding crop at the ready, soon finding herself glaring at the man sitting on the ground with weapons pointed at his face. "I do not believe we know you sir, and unauthorized individuals are not allowed on campus."

"Can I finally explain what's going on," Jaune snapped, only to find Glynda's crop pressed against his nose as well, "right."

"Now now, let's at least hear what he has to say, there is a process to these kinds of things," Ozpin moved as if he had all the time in the world, "if he is found to be unsavory, he will be dealt with."

"Always with the dramatics Ozpin," Jaune wanted to snark more, but his position made it a bit difficult.

"Oh, so you are familiar with me, are you a Huntsman?" Ozpin took a sip of whatever he had in the mug, even after 20 years Jaune had never found out.

"In a way," Jaune replied as Ozpin motioned for everyone to lower their weapons, "I never actually graduated from an academy, but yeah I'm classified as a huntsman."

"I'm afraid I can't remember your face, would you mind telling me your name?" Ozpin smiled his Ozpin smile, friendly, but somewhat disconcerting.

Jaune contemplated for a moment, then exhaled deeply causing his shoulder to sag before looking Ozpin straight in the eye, "my name is Jaune Arc."

Silence. A beat, then all hell broke loose. A flurry of accusations, threats, and various swears were sent his way.

Glynda's voice drowned out the other voices, gaining a handle on her students, she once again pointed her crop at Jaune staring him down, "I have little patience for games, if you continue to try my patience you will regret it. Where. Is. Jaune Arc."

"I am Jaune Arc," Jaune grabs onto the shaft of the crop returning her intense gaze.

"I'm afraid we are a bit reluctant to believe you, because while there is a Jaune Arc at this institution, he is undeniably a young boy, around the age of 17." Ozpin gazed at the man over the rim of his glasses, who in turn met his eyes, "which you are obviously not."

"Clearly. How bout some proof?" Jaune proposed, letting go of his grip in Glynda's weapon, "I can prove I'm really Jaune Arc."

"We'll be the judge of that." Nora spoke up, a sentiment of which all the other students present agreed on. Since the teachers had arrived she and the other students had calmed down, although clearly they were more than ready to lay into him.

"Okay, my name is Jaune Arc, when I was 17 I started attending Beacon Academy in Vale. I have seven sisters, never went to a combat school, and got into Beacon using fake transcripts." Jaune gestured with his hands as if to ask if that was enough, "need more? Blake is a faunus, and uses her bow to hide it. When Pyrrha and I first met, she speared me to a wall, and again in initiation. Growing up I had a collection of lucky Pumpkin Pete's hoodie, and the code word Nora and I agreed on to use in case of body snatchers, or mimics is. 'Chrysanthemum."

Nora gasped the biggest gasp to ever gasp, pointed at Jaune shouting, "Oh my god! It is Jaune!"

"Ozpin?" Jaune directed the unspoken question towards the headmaster.

"Hmmm, Miss Belladonna who is aware of your heritage?"

Blake seemed surprised by the question, 'uh, only my team, who told JNPR with my permission. And a student from Haven who is also a faunus."

"Miss Nikos?"

"Ah. Uh. . .," Pyrrha blushed slightly, and coughed into her hand, "Y-yes, I did spear him. His hoodie, I mean, of which he has a surplus." She finished and opened a dresser, revealing a drawer full of identical black bunny hoodies.

"There, that fit the bill?" Jaune crossed his arms leaning against the wall, "or do I need to go into my family history?"

"How about Crocea Mors?" Ruby piped up, her eyes shift from person to person before settling on Jaune, "I mean, if you're really Jaune you should have his sword. He told me it was a family heirloom."

Leave it to Ruby to identify by weapon, "unfortunately I am no longer in possession of Crocea Mors, it was destroyed in a battle, sorry Ruby." Jaune shrugged, "but that does give me an idea, Ruby do you remember when you first met me- er Jaune?"

"The day when we all arrived at Beacon on the bullheads?" Ruby tilted her head, finger on her chin thinking back, "the day Jaune puked on Yang's shoes, and I exploded?"

"That's the one," Jaune pointed in affirmation, then pulled back his hand and looked at Yang, "Sorry about that. Again. But uh- do you remember how I introduced myself?"

"Yeah, he said 'The names Jaune Arc, short sweet, rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it!" Ruby quoted, Jaune joining in and repeating the exact same words along with her.

This man so different from the boy she had met that day looked up at her and smiled, the same smile she had seen many times, "Then you asked if they really did, to which I said that they would, or at least I hoped. Then went on about some advice from my mom. We ended up lost, and had to backtrack to find the auditorium."

"Oh. It- it is you." Ruby was dumbstruck, not sure exactly how to feel about the revelation. She extended her hand to touch him, but stopped short, "but how? Why are you?"

"Old?" Jaune laughed, "if I had to guess I'm not actually your Jaune, but a Jaune from a point in the future in another timeline."

"Future? Timeline?" Weiss spoke with a dissatisfied tone, "as in time travel?"

"Another timeline' implies more than one, it sounds more like multi-verse theory," Ren replied instead, "essentially a timelines exists for every possible difference, or outcome. Say one day Nora has a choice to eat pancakes or waffles. In one timeline, she chooses pancakes, in another waffles. Both are equally valid timelines, the only difference being that choice."

Nora oddly enough seemed to understand fairly well, while playfully smacking Ren on the back. Yang rubs her head in frustration, "so for every possible difference an entirely different timeline exists? Even stuff that doesn't matter like breakfast food?"

"Breakfast most certainly does matter, it's the most important meal of the day!" Nora interjecting a bit indignantly at Yang's words.

"That's why it's called the many worlds theory," Ozpin states swirling the contents of his mug idly, "although I suppose it's not much of a theory if this is true. I must say I surprised you're familiar with the concept, Mr. Arc."

"Multiverse plotlines are pretty common in comics," Jaune replied making a bit of a show of being bashful, and clearing his throat.

"How can you be sure you're from another timeline, and not the future of this present?" As nonplussed as usual, Blake's even tone and expression helped to mellow the situation.

Jaune shrugging, and giving a small chuckle, "cause this didn't happen in my timeline, if this was my timeline I'd remember it. In theory at least."

"In theory, how would all this have happened?"

"I'm not exactly sure how, but I ended up in the bed of this timeline's Jaune," Jaune pressed his fist against his mouth in thought, "which doesn't bode well for your Jaune if we switched places."

A wave of fear spreads through the students present at this realization, before Jaune speaks again, "if he stays put he probably won't get into too much trouble, provided he keep calm. But knowing me back then- uh now, he'll be freaking out, and that might bring Creatures of Grimm to him."

"We have to do something!"

Jaune spoke crossing his arms, face twisting into a grimace, "not much we can do, considering I don't even know how I got here, or how I'll be getting back."

The fear circulating between the group, turned to dread, as looks were exchanged back and forth.

"Uh, what's the date?" hoping to change the subject, Jaune drew the group's attention elsewhere.

"Does it matter?"

"how long until the Vytal Festival?"

"A few weeks," Glynda replies quickly, "the majority of the students from other kingdoms have begun to arrive."

"So it hasn't happened yet," Jaune's brow furrowed, "But the breach happened, and security control for the Festival was given to Ironwood, correct?"

"How do yo-" Glynda began to ask shocked by the question.

"Yes." Ozpin cut her off, "Roman Torchwick was apprehended and the causalities were kept to a minimum due to quick response of the combined forces of Vale's huntsmen and huntresses, and the Atlas Military. Why is this significant?"

"Well in my timeline during the finals of the Vytal Festival Tournament, the matches are sabotaged, and a combined attack of the White Fang, Grimm and hacked Atlas machines destroys Beacon, and nearly does the same to Vale." In that moment Jaune swore he could hear a pin drop, all eyes directed at him in shock.

"W-what?" Ruby squeaks out, taking a step towards Jaune, "is that really going to happen?"

"No way to know until it happens, or doesn't. Who knows this timeline could be completely different," Jaune shrugs, and then moves to stand up finally. "But at least considering the events of the Breach are the same, this timeline bears some similarities to mine.

"Whoa wait, isn't you telling us this gonna like paradox or something?" Yang still reeling places her hands on Ruby's shoulders.

"Nah, like I said this isn't my timeline so any changes in this one isn't going affect mine, probably" Jaune pats Ruby on the head, and grins.

"Do you have any actually proof that's true?" Weiss asked, always the skeptic.

"Nope, but it's already done, and we haven't imploded, so no use worrying about it now," Jaune waved his hand noncommittally. Weiss prickled in response, reared back about to point out how irresponsible that is.

Ozpin stepped forward directly in front of Jaune, "if it is not too much trouble I would like to hear more about this event." "Of course not right now, if seems everyone could use some time to process this new information, and tidy themselves up," the older man analyzing the man in front of him as he sipped away at his mug, "please drop by my office when you feel like continuing."

"Can do. But yeah should probably let everyone get out of their pajamas at least," Jaune gestures to his friends still in their sleepwear, with their bed-head.

As his three teammates went about their business, getting dressed preparing for their day. Team RWBY coming and going out of JNPR's room as they did the same. Jaune sat on his bed engrossed in watching them do tasks he hadn't seen them do for years. A stab of sorrow pierced through him; this was all so familiar, but far away in his memory.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha called out to him as she brushed her hair, "the shower is free if you want to clean up."

He looked at himself, at his ragged clothes, and the dirt on his skin, "yeah that's probably a good idea." As he pulled off his shoulders the remains of a cloak, revealing attached at his left shoulder a metallic arm. Clean, not pristine, but clearly better maintained than the rest of him.

"Jaune! You're a cyborg!" Nora rushed over to him taking his mechanical arm in her hands and examining it in wonder.

"A prosthetic . . ." Ren trailing after her, eyeing the appendage noticing an engraving of a rose on the shoulder plate.

"You lost your arm." Not a question, but a statement Pyrrha had halted her brushing as she stared at the arm as Nora handled it, "when did you lose your arm?"

"Around 10 years ago," he said simply, the image of Nora messing around with Jaune as he tolerated her antics was nothing new, but the context left an uncomfortable silence in the air. "Guy's it's really not that big of a deal, given our career path it's pretty par for the course."

"Right. You're right. Apologies I shouldn't have stared," Ren quick to apologize went back to straightening out his bed.

"Do you need help taking your clothes off?" Pyrrha asked genuinely concerned, eyes still on the mechanical limb.

"Why Pyrrha I never thought you'd be so forward," Jaune teased, almost immediately grimacing. Although nobody noticed, as Pyrrha turned red like a tomato, sending Nora giggling back onto her bed as Jaune waved apologetically, "thanks for the concern, but I've had this thing long enough to know how to handle it."

After the first hot shower in who knows how long, Jaune was feeling better than ever. Trimming his beard from extremely shaggy, to sort of shaggy, and tying his long hair back in a ponytail.

"Jaune we borrowed some clothes from for you to wear until your clothes are clean." Pyrrha called from the other side of the door.

"Thanks, "Jaune replied as he wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door. Something his team had clearly not expected when they all did a double take at the sight of his topless form.

"Jaune, lookin good!" Nora whistled at Jaune, then pretended to root around in her wallet, "how much to lose the towel?"

"Nora!" Pyrrha again beat red, shoved the borrowed clothes into his arms, and rushed out the open doorway.

Jaune raised an eyebrow, and looked at Ren for some clarification as if he being topless was something unusual.

"For someone with your aura, you have quite a number of scars." Ren returned Jaune's look before going back to examining the scars scattered over his torso.

"Well you know me, never know when to quit," Jaune said as he slipped the large shirt, and pair of pants on, "ran out of aura few too many times, but I learned my lesson. For the most part."

"We have classes soon, will you be okay alone, should we stay?" Ren asked placing the book he was reading in his lap.

"Don't skip on my account, those are valuable lessons Oobleck and Port are giving you." Jaune gave a derisive snort, smirking as he waved them off.

"Okay, well just behave yourself, and we'll be back in a few hours." Pyrrha calling out as she was exiting.

"I'm not a puppy. I'll probably go finish telling Ozpin about my timeline, then take a walk around campus. Haven't seen this place in nearly 20 years after all." Jaune smiles fondly, then laughs to himself, "You have fun with Oobleck, maybe tell him I'm absent because I got switched with an alternate universe version of myself, see how he reacts."

"Will do!" Nora piped up giving a salute before marching out the door, Ren in tow shaking his head.

Jaune stretched out with a groan, and then went on his way to Ozpin's office. His memory was reliable enough, though he could have sworn the carpet had been a different color. Jaune stopped in front of the elevator up to Ozpin's office, "maybe I should take the stairs." He sighed as the opened the doors, and stepped inside, "Up, not down. Not down." Jaune clenched his eyes shut when the walls suddenly felt like they were closing in, and counted until he reached the top floor.

"Ah Mr. Arc, you are looking much better now," Ozpin sat at his desk, a bundle of papers in front of him. Glynda standing to the side, turned to see Jaune, her eyes catching onto the mechanical arm.

Jaune face slightly pallid approached Ozpin's desk, taking a few labored breathes, before smiling. "It's surprising what a shower and shave can do to a bum," Jaune quipped resting his good hand on the back of a chair.

"Please sit," Ozpin motions to the chair infront of him, moving the papers in front of him to the side, "I'd like to hear more about the world you come from, is that alright?"

"I can only tell you what I know," Jaune points out as he settles into the seat, declining the offering of a beverage, "where should I start?"

"Of course, of course," Ozpin sips from his mug, "as for where to start, how about from the beginning."

And thus Jaune recounted his life's story all the way up to the Vytal Festival, Glynda growing somewhat agitated as the story droned on.

"Mr. Arc, while I appreciate learning about my students, that was not quite what I meant," Ozpin adjusted his glasses, and filled his mug again.

"You did say from the beginning, you need to be more specific," Jaune smirked, feeling a little self-satisfied. Although he flinched when Glynda raised her crop in warning, "okay okay, sorry. Now onto the Vytal Festival."

Jaune explained what knew, and what he'd seen, it was all very normal. Students everywhere, food stalls, fights, camaraderie, and youthful exuberance. He spoke about how nearing the finals of the tournament Pyrrha became unsure on herself, and came to him with some questions he hadn't understood at the time, how she'd seemed so distraught. Honestly it made Jaune a bit happy to see Ozpin and Glynda subtly shift when he told them how worried he'd been about Pyrrha. Then came the first match of the finals, Yang against Mercury Black, when Yang had been tricked into being disqualified.

"So then the matches after that were pretty standard, no maiming or over the top violence," Jaune gesturing as he spoke, "but then Pyrrha went up against Penny Polendina, a huntress-in-training from Atlas. Who we found out was actually an android."

That got their attention, Ozpin's eyes grew wide and he hastily set his mug down, while Glynda uncrossed her arms and stepped forward, "An android? As in a robot?"

"From what Ruby told me about her, Penny was the first artificial human ever capable of generating an aura." Jaune spoke recalling Ruby opening up about another friend she had lost in the Fall of Beacon, "ask Ironwood about it, he helped make her."

"Yes, I'll be sure to do that," Ozpin sat back into his chair, fingers entwined in front of his face, "continue please."

"Well Pyrrha killed Penny," Jaune stated simply, "due to her unstable emotional state she lost control of her semblance, which made Penny's own weapons turn against her." Jaune clasped his hand together and rested them on his knees, "and that- that was the start of one of the worst nights of my life."

"Do you believe you were sent back to divert these events, Mr. Arc?"

Jaune spoke quietly shaking his head, "I doubt it, I was in the middle of nowhere before I woke up here, not exactly near any singularities or mad scientists secret labs. Besides if the whole multiverse thing has any standing, it wouldn't matter what I did here, it wouldn't change my future. I don't know how far back, but at least the events of the Vytal Festival had been orchestrated by someone, the person who is hunting the maidens."

The sound of a mug being dropped could never be so sweet, as the contents of Ozpin's mug spilled across his desk. "I'm afraid I do not follow Mr. Arc."

"Don't' bullshit me Ozpin," Jaune sat forward, slamming a hand on the desk, "I know about the woman in the vault. I know that the woman in the machine was a fairy tale maiden with magical powers. I know you're planning on choosing Pyrrha to take her place." The three sat in silence, Jaune hoping to whatever gods there may be that this was a timeline where all that was going to happen, and he hadn't just made an ass of himself.

"Yes, you are correct," the headmaster sighed, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe up the mess, "where is this going Mr. Arc?"

"You die." Jaune looks Ozpin in the eye, "well kind of, given later events."

"I die?" Ozpin inquired casually as if he hadn't just been told of his own demise.

"Sort of. A woman named Cinder follows us down to the vault and kills the fall maiden. Partially my fault, I was supposed to keep guard." Jaune exhales and rubs his neck, "but to allow Pyrrha and I to escape you stay to fight her, and lose. You ended up in the head of a young boy named Oscar, but we didn't find that out until later."

"Ah, I see." Jaune had never expected to see Ozpin, as well as Glynda, at a loss for words.

"After you lost to Cinder, Pyrrha took it upon herself to stop her," Jaune's gaze fell to the floor, "you can guess how that went."

"I . . . am sorry, Mr. Arc," Ozpin offered remorsefully, Jaune nodded back.

"But due to that, Ruby activated her Silver-eyed warrior powers," Jaune continued, lacing his fingers behind his head, "I guess there was some kind of magical power bargain sale I missed." "But that sent Cinder running, and froze the giant Grimm Dragon that had taken a perch on Beacon Tower. Oh yeah, a giant Grimm dragon came out of a mountain, and started dropping grimm juice all over the city."

"Gods," Glynda breathed out, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I got launched into Vale, so I'm kind spotty on what exactly happened for the stuff I missed," Jaune cupped his chin, "Yang lost her right arm, and went back to Patch with a comatose Ruby; Blake got stabbed and disappeared; Weiss was taken back to Atlas; Sun and his team went back to Mistral; Ren, and Nora came back with me, Beacon was destroyed with a monster frozen on the tower, and Vale was devastated but still mostly standing."

"What of the other kingdoms?"

"Well the CCT was taken out in the attack, so we didn't have any contact with them afterwards." Jaune leaned back in his seat, expositing events after the Fall, "I didn't find anything out until Ruby, Ren, Nora and I made it to Mistral almost a year later. But Atlas closed its borders, no trade or dust shipments to other kingdoms. Mistral & Vacuo were largely unaffected, or that's what it seemed."

"A dust embargo? Closed borders?" Glynda adjusts her glasses a sharp look to her eyes, "for what reason would Atlas cut them selves off like that?"

"Well the CCT didn't go down until after video of Atlas androids and mechs attacking the people of Vale was transmitted to every kingdom." Jaune tilted his head, and closed his eyes as he went on, "they were wary of the other kingdoms suspecting them of being involved in the attack."

"So obviously the thing to do is stop all outside contact and not answer any questions," Glynda crossed her arms, her mouth in a displeased frown.

"And you said that Mistral and Vacuou 'seemed' unaffected?" Ozpin inserted himself back into the conversation.

"Well Vacuou was a mystery until much later, but as it turns out Professor Lionheart was in bed with the enemy."

Ozpin stilled, "such accusations are grave Mr. Arc, the headmaster of Haven Academy is a trusted personal friend."

"Not an accusation, just saying what happened in my timeline," Jaune shrugged, then turned his to return Ozpin's stare, "he thought by aiding Salem, that he would be spared." His expression turning neutral, and cold, "in the end he died, a fool and a traitor."

Ozpin and Glynda exchanged looks, mulled the thought over for a moment. The older man pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, "I suppose the possibility should not be completely put off the table."

"After Beacon & Vale, then it was Mistral's turn. The kingdom was brought down from the inside, and from there it was just race to keep the kingdoms standing." Jaune gaze lowered to the Beacon emblem on the side of Ozpin's mug, "we just kept going from place to place trying to stop Salem and her 'Council of Evil,' but in the end we were just playing catch up. The seeds for their plans had been sown years in advance, for kids like us, who didn't even finish their first year of training. We didn't have a chance to begin with."

"You never struck me as a defeatist, Mr. Arc," Ozpin cleaned his glassed before placing them back in place.

"I've always tried very hard to hide it," Jaune grinned, but his eyes weren't playing along, "all the kingdoms fell, at least from a governmental standpoint. Whatever citizens and huntsmen remained were scattered to the wind. Our group joined up with anyone else we could find and tried to reclaim some of the ruined cities. But in the end none of us could rebuild a kingdom."

"Is that it?" Glynda seemed agitated, hands on her hips, "you lose, and give up?"

"If only it were that easy," Jaune replied to Glynda with resignation, "No any still living civilians, and huntsmen are either trying to live out in the wilderness, or made their way to Amity Base."

"Amity Base? As in Amity Coloseum, it still existed even after all that?"

"It was actually one of the few things still functional, the left over huntsmen organized to set up there, and turned into a mobile base, and refuge for anyone seeking shelter." Jaune smiled at the memory, "converted the thing to solar, stocked up on supplies, and it's been the closest anyone has gotten to rebuilding a society, outside of temporary shanty towns."

"What had you been doing at that point Mr. Arc?" Ozpin noticed Jaune hadn't mentioned himself in all this.

"Oh, I was around for all that, I was part of the group that reclaimed Amity, and did a lot of searching for survivors to send back there," Jaune's expression fell as he went on, "up until around ten years ago, we directly went up against Salem's lackies again. The first time in a while, it was bad, but we were stronger than we were as kids." His hand went up to his left shoulder, "we got some of them, and they got some of us. Nobody lost, but sure as hell nobody won. That was when I lost my arm, and what remained of my team." Jaune's face fell, "and . . ."

"And?" Ozpin looked at Glynda out the corner of his eye, who nodded, "is everything alright, Mr. Arc?"

"Fine. Just bad memories," Jaune didn't seem particularly emotional, mostly just tired. "Long story, short. I was around doing things, until I wasn't. I haven't been back to Amity in a while."

"You left?"

"After that battle I felt it better to go," Jaune continued, "I had a feeling I wasn't the only one."

"What did you do after that?"

"I had a prototype prosthetic arm bolted onto me, got a new weapon, and went anywhere other than Amity, just searching. I figured I'd either find what I was looking for, or get killed by something," Jaune shrugged, a good-natured smile on his face for such a morbid thought.

"And what was it you were looking for?"

"Survivors to send back to Amity, any leftover huntsmen that could help, the Maidens, supply caches, my family; if any of them are still alive." Jaune crossed his arms, and slouched in his seat, "just about anything I can find really, I've spent the last ten years doing that and haven't set one step back on Amity since."

"Did you find the Maidens, or your family?"

Jaune jaw set in a line, "Nope."

"And you have been gone for ten years, you said?"

"Around ten or so," Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, "If I find any resources, or supply storages, I send the location back to Amity. If I come across survivors I try to escort them to safety, so I'm kept busy at least."

"You do not return, but act in its interest, why?."

"What else would I do?" Jaune laughs softly, "It's just about the only thing left to fight for. And even if I don't go back, there are still things I care about there."

"There are?"

"Yes."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not particularly."

A silence settled, as everyone in attendance understood that this conversation had come to an end. Ozpin stood smoothly, and offered his hand to the younger man across from him.

"Well that was an enlightening experience Mr. Arc. Regardless of whether or not events in this world will go the same way, what you said has given us quite a bit to think about."

"Yeah well, it felt kind of nice to talk to someone for a change."

"And if you are ever in need of someone to listen, we are here."

"I'll keep that in mind, haven't had these kinds of luxuries in a long time, I'll be sure to take full advantage," Jaune chuckled as he stood up, leaning forward to shake Ozpin's hand.

"If you need anything please tell me," Glynda offered as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Well actually, there is one thing . . . " Jaune intentionally drifted off, before fixing Ozpin with a look, "take me to the Fall maiden."


End file.
